About Hospitalist and Hospital Medicine Careers
A hospitalist is a physician who practices in the specialty of hospital medicine. After medical school, these physician usually complete residency training in general pediatrics & internal medicine, or family practice.
Hospitalist positions are available across the United States in a variety of permanent and locum tenens positions. Finding the right practice opportunity can be a difficult process for the busy Internal Medicine Physician seeking an established Hospitalist Program or a temporary locums assignment. Hospitalist careers revolve around the simple phenomenon that hospitals seek to provide quality health care and doctors want to practice the science of medicine, therefore a specialty to focus on the medical care of hospitalized patients is evitable.
Hospitalistworking's job statistics show salaries for hospitalists are generally very competitive. They range from $180,000 a year to $250,000 a year on the higher end. If they are willing to work the night shift only (nocturnists) then they can expect even higher compensation.
In recent years the demand for hospitalists has grown exponentially. Many hospitals are always on the hunt for capable hospitalists. Any experienced hospital medicine physician who uploads a resume to a hospitalist job board will assuredly find their inbox filled with potential opportunities.
While some hospitalists are Family Practitioners, Pulmonologists or Intensivists (critical care), the majority of practicing Hospitalists have trained in the specialty of Internal Medicine. In some cases Physician Assistants (PA) and Nurse Practitioners (NP) are also called hospitalists when the majority of their time is spent in hospital medicine. Besides the practical reason of having a clinician at the hospital to manage patient care from admission to discharge, the cost savings have been a major force in the growing popularity of Hospitalists. With more than 30,000 practicing hospitalists the specialty certainly warrants the designation that clearly identifies this distinct field of medicine.
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